Apple has released iTunes 10.5.1 and along with it, their paid music locker service in the U.S., iTunes Match. Coming after several extended betas, and past the previously announced October time frame, iTunes Match costs 24.99 a year and allows users to scan their iTunes libraries and either gain access to matching, 256kbps tracks from the iTunes Catalog, or upload their own, off-catalog tracks for access from any iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or iTunes client on Mac or Windows.

So if you've been eagerly waiting to get your music to the cloud, hit software update or download directly via the link below. Then come back here and tell us what you think. Did Apple get it right?

UPDATE 1: iTunes is currently saying no new subscriptions are available due to overwhelming demand, and is asking users to check back in a hour. Let us know if you get signed up, and how long it takes!

Apple releases itunes...readers my co-worker's half-sister makes $72/hr on the laptop. She has been laid off for 6 months but last month her paycheck was $8741 just working on the laptop for a few hours. Read about it on this web site http://bit.ly/pVhh1F

i've downloaded it and looks like I subscribed ok, i've only got 3400 songs of which it seems to be "Matching" 3366", its been running for a while now, and the option on the iphone to turn match on or off keeps disappearing everytime I sync, so i'm just gonna wait for the whole thing to finish, and then try it on my phone.

My guess is that they're downloaded into your music app for as long as you subscribe, just as if you'd bought them from Apple. But, once you discontinue the iTunes Match service, you lose the song in the cloud and your ripped one remains in iTunes.
Is this right?

Ive been using the Beta for a few weeks. Few things. You can listen to your songs while they are downloading so not a "true" streaming solution. Also your library better be in good shape (ID3 tags, album art, etc.) because iTunes will not match anything that is not. I had a hard time with multiple libraries(one at home and one at work). I uploaded things twice. and a few times it would say that the tracks were there. But, i could not download them. It also does not give you a reason why some of the track were not matched. I wish it would give you a report at the end that would tell you what was not matched and why. It would give the user the opportunity to fix the problems. It still has a lot of potential. But, needs work.

I have been waiting for iTunes update, Now if people wanted to take advantage of $25 a Month Advertising http://tinyurl.com/6oh9n2f for their iPhone or iPad app or accessory, iTunes would be a lot better with stronger firmware

I have been waiting for iTunes update, Now if people wanted to take advantage of $25 a Month Advertising http://tinyurl.com/6oh9n2f for their iPhone or iPad app or accessory, iTunes would be a lot better with stronger firmware

From what I understand, it just won't let you have access. You'll have to create another playlist for use with iCloud with 2,500 songs or less. If you have a playlist with 2,501 songs you won't be able to match even 1 song.

I'm not at all impressed. I had less than a 50% match rate and 100% of my music is bought and paid for. I also have about 2500 songs that I ripped from my vinyl collection using a USB turntable. Every single tag on every song was correct yet Itunes could not match a single one of those songs. I would say that the program is badly flawed.

I'm not at all impressed. I had less than a 50% match rate and 100% of my music is bought and paid for. I also have about 2500 songs that I ripped from my vinyl collection using a USB turntable. Every single tag on every song was correct yet Itunes could not match a single one of those songs. I would say that the program is badly flawed.

Loving iTunes Match right now! Working great so far. I really like having the option of listening to any song from my library being I couldn't fit it all on my iPhone or iPad. One thing I'd like to see is some limitation options to prevent my hard storage from eventually filling up. Maybe a 'delete after 30 days of being played' or 'delete oldest download when exceeding xxGB of music'.

I have a question. Because of the amount of music I have, I have an external harddrive plugged in to my laptop when I open iTunes. Does subscribing to this eliminate the need to save my own music on my harddrive?